In case you missed it before the long holiday weekend, Linden Lab recently rolled out a new look to the Second Life logo:
Second Life has seen a surge of interest from people new to SL, longstanding residents, and groups and businesses seeking a uniquely interactive place for gatherings and special events. With this renewed attention we decided it was time to update a key part of how we tell the world what SL is all about... The new logo uses clearer, bolder type to communicate our optimism and confidence in what the future holds for SL. We retired the soft green color in favor of bright blue to reflect the boundless energy of our residents, who create amazing content and experiences. When it comes to what you can do with SL, the (blue) sky’s the limit!
It looks good, and the company's logic for the change makes sense -- but also seems far too conservative to me.
If you really want to update the logo, why not also update the name itself, too? As a brand, "Second Life" has always been problematic, and is probably key to the reason SL failed to grow the active user base despite tens of millions trying it out at least once. (At minimum, calling it Second Life certainly doesn't help with retention.)
Why? Short answer is the one any SL user is painfully familiar with: Calling a virtual world Second Life makes it too easy for a skeptic/cynic/troll to say, "Oh it's just for people who want to have virtual sex/parties/style/etc. because they can't get it in real life." An utterly dick-ish remark, to be sure, but an unavoidable one when that very implication is baked into the name.
Longer answer: The name "Second Life" was based on an understandable but ultimately flawed assumption about how the Internet would trend made back in 2002. Here's how early Linden Lab team member Hunter Walk, who started the brainstorming of the name (which the leadership team subsequently iterated on) explains it in my book:
“I came back the next day with ‘Life Two’, thinking about the Milton Bradley game, Game of Life,” he says. “That evolved into Second Life.” That provoked immediate pushback from other staffers: “That’s really easy for people to say, ‘Ha ha, you need a second life because you don’t have a first life,’” Walk recalls them arguing.
Still, Hunter held his ground. “I said, ‘You know what, let’s take those slings and arrows. It’s such a strong notion, it’s such an idea, everybody wants a second life.’” He pointed to the growing ubiquity of alternate identities and little personalized icons, in e-mail and instant messaging software, on blogs, growing seemingly everywhere on the Net. “You see more and more people with avatars and screen names,” he told them. “I think if we hit our stride we can sell this. It won’t be geeky. It’ll be ‘Of course, why wouldn’t you want one?’ Because it doesn’t have to be better or worse, it doesn’t mean your first one is lame or great, it just means it’s different, and you can be somebody different, and do something different.”
But just a few years later, Facebook established real life identities as the main interaction model for most people on the Internet. Trailing far behind it in terms of active users, Twitter does allow anonymous accounts, but only 6% of Twitter users are completely anonymous.
Meanwhile, the largest virtual worlds are not about having a second life, but having fun online with others (often or mainly real life friends). Minecrafting! Building and fighting around a Fort[nite!] Playing with [Ro]blox! Roughly half a billion people play in these worlds every month.
But what to call Second Life, instead of Second Life?
There's a number of directions that could be taken, but a quick solution is to just drop any mention of "Second Life" and replace them entirely with "SL". (Already the community's main way of referring to the world anyway.) Linden Lab could then launch a group of sub-brands which link core SL activities to the larger SL brand.
Imagine these as sub-headings on the official website and on its social media channels, categorizing the variety of activity possible in-world. For example:
- SL:Gaming
- SL:Socialize
- SL:Create
- SL:Uncensored
To explain the last one, “SL:Uncensored” would better convey a walled-off, red-lettered, sub-brand for all the pornographic and other extreme content a significant minority of kinky SL users have created. That would also address the continued branding problem encapsulated by the dumbass bon mot, "SL is just for virtual sex" with an immediate "No, that's just in SL:Uncensored" rejoinder.
Make a radical change like this, and I believe we'd start to see substantial growth of SL. When new users no longer feel the need to apologize for or defend their choice to play in SL, they're much more likely to stay beyond the pandemic-driven growth we're seeing now.
Or maybe they'll just stay because the logo is blue?
Been in here for 13+ years... have no idea what you are talking about. Re-branding the name Second Life to attract more users? And this statement:"...Calling a virtual world Second Life makes it too easy for a skeptic/cynic/troll to say, "Oh it's just for people who want to have virtual sex/parties/style/etc. because they can't get it in real life.""
Fuck em. Many of us personally like the idea that others don't understand else we would be in Sansar. Well written article though. A bit reaching.
Posted by: Nichiren Dinzeo | Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 04:24 PM
I recall the discussion in Hamlet's book about what to call the place. Considering their original choice, "Linden World," they could have done much worse.
Posted by: Bixyl Shuftan | Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 05:30 PM
Philip originally wanted to call Second Life...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...
Sensarra.
Posted by: Wagner James Au | Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 05:37 PM
No one thinks highschools and yearbooks anymore with Facebook despite its name and it originally having all of us add and group around our former schools.
Still a lot of vloggers on YouTube but its long since dropped the 'Broadcast Yourself' slogan and is much more TVMusicAndMoviesTube nowadays.
Instagram despite its name is no longer the telegram with polaroid effects check-in app it used to be. InstaLiveStreams or InstaMarketing would be more apt.
A good product's name doesn't matter. It'll succeed at things entirely different than it's original purpose if its good enough. Rdio was as good as a name could be for a music streaming app and the name didn't help it at all against Spotify. Few people think of jungles or even books nowadays when thinking of Amazon.
Second Life definitely has stigmas and bad reputation, but a name change isn't a quick way out of it. It'll just be "###? Oh, it used to be called Second Life". We get over a bad rap via exposure and use, first-hand experience trumps heresy. But few will ever use Second Life if the user experience and performance is never meaningfully improved.
Posted by: seph | Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 06:09 PM
Will this be part of the Super Premium package?
Posted by: Jolene | Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 10:33 PM
It doesn't matter how or why Second Life was named. It's a well-established brand now. Changing the name would be a huge marketing mistake causing unnecessary confusion.
Posted by: Susan Wilson | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 04:44 AM
This again? :) Like the SL:Category idea though although you miss SL:Bonkers. And the forums could be renamed 'Whiners World'.
Nah, also after 13 years (13 years? Blimey) it is still 'Your world your imagination' or sometimes ' SL'
Posted by: sirhc desantis | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 05:45 AM
I wish they would have hired Toxic Rhiyannr to at least have a proper nice and nice new logo..
Posted by: Amy | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 06:10 AM
"Philip originally wanted to call Second Life...Sanserra"
And how well has Sansar done?
It's not the name it's the execution (hah, maybe not the best word to use) but giving SL a new name is pointless at this stage. It's recognisable. A colour change and alteration to the logo and a different font does nothing for me. I don't see any of it logging in on a Third party viewer, unless I view my dashboard or marketplace and see the logo in the corner.
People don't like logo changes and name changes (Gap, Kraft anyone ?)They more or less changed back, pretty swiftly with Gap. Rayal Mail in the UK within a year after rebranding the entire company to Consignia at the cost of millions!
And many are divisive..Pepsi, Sci-fi/Syfy, BP
Posted by: Mondy | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 06:31 AM
Royal Mail* (I wish you had an edit function for times we miss typos when using preview)
Posted by: Mondy | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 06:34 AM
I don't like the change to the colors. The black and blue clash with one another. I think they should've used a slightly different hue of blue and then made the words a darker shade of that blue or something. They attempted to do color meaning/psychology but threw color harmony out the window.
If I renamed SL it would be called something like Stagnant Life or Retirement Life. It's where many mid-to-senior people and sheep go to live a careless free life and care nothing about massive innovation unless it means they can get new hair, lipstick, skins or can have better social connections. Otherwise they carelessly shrug or swing their walking canes at you for invading their comfort zone.
The effort put into this logo change is reflective of the professionalism this company has. And this level of professionalism shows in other attempts made by them. But hey, LL is very profitable, who cares? Right?
Posted by: vwfan | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 08:07 AM
Second es mucho más que sexo fiesta polaridad y moda
Yo estoy en la plataforma hace más de 5 años second e más que una segunda vida si sabes manejarlo second se convierte en parte de tu vida y aún que mucho no lo quiere o no les gusta te puede conllevar a qué sl y rl se fucionen y sean una misma a lo cual podés desarrollar todo tipo de actividad simultánea dejar volar tu mente y crear miles y miles de cosas parcticaménte sin invertir
Y te conviertes en un empresario virtual
Cómo comprando y revendiendo subastando bredeables haciendo Ropa casa desarrollar todo tipo de negocio virtual que lo pode funcionar con la vida real
Posted by: nicolas | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 09:43 AM
I always liked the green as it suggested spring and rebirth. This new logo is blah.
Posted by: Acacia Merlin | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 10:48 AM
Omg Can't believe this... i,m on Sl since 2007 wtfk this logo change and Name change, this is not right.
Posted by: Candy | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 01:41 PM
I would tend to agree with the idea of a name change, but strictly because of the fact that they changed their logo. The usual statements and off-putting remarks about the phrase itself are an instant detractor for introducing the experience to anyone unfamiliar; this in an of itself was a huge marketing mishap in the beginning. That aside, in a world where words missing letters and compound words are the name brands we remember and recite and recognize instantly, for Second Life to continue to grow and remain relevant in the virtual world/gaming industry, a name change would make a world of difference. The SEO benefits alone would be worth the hassle (not to mention the availability of new domain extensions), but that's just my two cents. Change or not, I'll continue to find my way back, either daily, or just every once in a while.
Posted by: Web Geek In SL | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 01:59 PM
It's a good idea. SL:"tagline" would work just fine. IMVU seems to do just fine using just initials.
Posted by: Joey1058 | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 02:17 PM
Dublin Donuts recently rebranded themselves as "Dunkin'" but it's still the same crap product and crap customer service. Just changing your name doesn't cut it. "Unter den Lindenworld" would have been more accurate...
Posted by: David Cartier | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 04:15 PM
I used to disagree, but after getting a breath of fresh air and seeing how SL is perceived outside of SL..
Yeah, it needs a name change. 100%. Change it.
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 06:50 PM
I think rebranding as SL, with sectors for business, builders and creators, music and art, and uncensored...with a full-on plan to market each area to target audiences...would breathe new life into SL.
Posted by: Lyric Serendipity | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 12:39 AM
As long as you were able to move your inventory from one to the other I don’t see a problem but if this is just another way to make more money I’m very disappointed
Posted by: Candysugar peppermint | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 05:54 AM
I believe it should improve the place where the game is hosted, since many people complain about lags, games closing out of nowhere, and of course, the fact that it has to be Premium to be able to change the name.
I believe that the first change in the name of loguin should be free of charge, and then, yes, to be able to charge, and they should not remove the Brazilians from the game, I see that everything is adapted only for Americans and other countries, but there are a very large number of Brazilians active in the game, and who spend their money within the game.
Posted by: Lola | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 10:02 AM
I completely disagree with this assessment. Second Life is a great name; a brand name. Good brand names are hard to come by. If sex and debauchery were such a problem why did the early Lindens allow it? It could have been scripted out or made against Term of Service - they did not.
Nope, I know that the monumentally stupid mistakes LL has made over the years was the limiting factor: Poor performance, high prices, griefing, inconsistent application of the ban hammer, special prices for the worthy, and most of all: not listening to the customer base.
Its not the name. It's the management.
Posted by: TD Gunner | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 10:26 AM
This article misses the whole point about why SL has no more users than most other vibrant virtual communities. I have been in SL for more than decade and also many of the other 200 virtual worlds out there. And have also been in highly immersive game environments from all the leading large game creators like Grand Theft XYZ, Assassin’s Creed XYZ and have a company which builds both AR and VR experiences. The main and only reason SL has never grown is that it is simply too difficult for the average user to use. Just try getting a mesh avatar together or learning “the wheel” for functions. New users, indeed many long time users find it hard to use. Sending objects, image and object uploads, etc. make it a steep learning curve. Linden Labs has failed to cultivate community also. No support of its user base, etc. in short, LL has failed at about everything any and all online game companies do well. But that is because they are engineered as entertainment offerings. Phil’s vision was that this was a libertarian world where life forms would grow organically, as they have. To quote what Phil once told me: “SL seems real because it is”. To say that a rebranding and logo change is a way to grow SL is so wrong it isn’t even wrong.
Posted by: Burnes Hollyman | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 12:12 PM
The tech limitations of the platform ended up selecting a certain type of user and the name did the rest. If SL is used in a that way, it's because you can't do much else in SL in a satisfactory way, not the other way around.
There is this sad mistake that can cost you millions, not thinking out of the box and if you believe SL is a model of success: you see what people do in SL and you think that must be what makes a virtal world successful. That's the recipe of failure that has been repeated over and over.
If combat with dozens of avatars becomes a lag fest, action is difficult, traveling and vehicles are hampered by region crossings, in-world creation wasn't so user-friendly before and now you need external software like Blender, you won't see so many people doing that.
What's left is hopping around regions, shopping for your fashion / doll dressing (depending on how you take your avatar) and taking selfies of that, then socializing in clubs, some flirt and text-based role-play (sexual too) propped up by some visual and animation.
In Fortnite you can go to concerts now, but it didn't become successful by starting as a club game: again it was the other way around. And I totally agree that the most successful virtual worlds "are not about having a second life, but having fun online with others (often or mainly real life friends)". The name recalls escapism and attracted that kind of users too.
I mean, it's fine to fantasize a better life, if it makes you feel better. But it's niche.
Of course it also attracted someone who lost touch with reality and believes this must be really Tinder, so if those top-model girls aren't the same in real life, that means they are purposely deceiving you (even when they aren't catfish at all and honestly behaving as themselves, but feeling better in visualizing themselves in that way).
Posted by: Puslar | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 03:53 PM
Despite the example of successful games, this is what happens:
- Minecraft is a blast. In SL, instead, in-world creation tools weren't as immediate and user-friendly as Mincraft. However they were still fun. Instead of improving that, LL introduced "sculpties" and then "mesh", favoring external professional software: now creation in SL means an handful of actual creators and a bunch of template users and tons ripped models from various games. Where is the fun?
So they think: «in SL almost nobody is really a creator. At most they are creators in the sense that they put stuff on the land or into their homes and move it around. Nobody creates in-world anymore. That thing appeals virtually nobody, let's drop the in-world creativity.»
- In SL you don't have a focused game directory like Roblox, but a bunch of places to visit. Also "experience keys" came a bit too late and could be better.
So they think: «nah, see? People in SL don't really make many games, at most things like "Greedy" and those "skill gaming" machines. Let's just focus on places to visit, that's what people really want!»
- vehicle simulation isn't maybe the most popular genre, but if Microsoft is releasing Flight Simulator 2020 and if on Steam there are many vehicle games it's for a reason. Traveling in SL however is hampered by region crossings. Sometimes you even crash. Yet someone tries to do that anyway, because these things are fun, so much that you still see someone into that, despite all the shortcomings. Also it adds quite a bit of in-world immersion.
So they look at the "successful" SL and think: «see? Who cares of vehicles? Only few geeks use vehicles, maybe someone to show off and to impress girls. People don't even travel, let's just make rooms the next time». LL then didn't even care to stop that update that came with a bug that detaches avatar parts or clothes on region-crossing, sometimes with embarrassing results. Years later it's still like that.
- Then I wonder if they know why the average age of their users and costumers is around 50. The once hyped virtual world that has been called "Second Life" and was better suited for certain activities, ended up with a bunch of retired folks, bonkers and escapists really looking for a second life? Yeah, and SL is surely great if not even helpful for them (and for who can open a shop or can make a few extra dollars in other ways), but... those are niches, not the paragon of the ultimate success in virtual world making.
And yet someone thinks: «See? SLers want to be virtual top models and hulks, mostly, not cute, catchy, funny colorful characters as in Fortnite. Sure, there are anime and furry avatars, but we learned about those weirdos. The masses want virtual museums. Let's make serious avatars, that's how a serious virtual world must be»
And here we go, the nth failure is served:
they make the nth room-loader virtual-world, and not as games, but as mostly places to visit (that you visit only once or a couple times); creating requires external professional software, no traveling, no serious vehicle leisure or vehicle gaming, gaming fun limited to a couple of mini-games; and socialization with uncanny mannequins.
On top of that, long loading times like in Sansar for a large part of the population at the time of the launch (because you had to download a bunch of Gb per ridiculous unoptimized room, and all of them before you could see anything); essentially limiting your users to only those on fiber, modern pretty good (at the time) hardware (when things were moving to mobile) and falling for the VR hype... and all of this without really targeting the only one who could, the gaming enthusiasts (at least those into VR and fast broadband), until it was too late and still not in interesting ways for them.
Or if you get something of the above right, you make it first not so user-friendly, then you make it with a bunch of bugs or choices that makes your costumers run away, like with High Fidelity.
Otherwise they could have had a minor success, instead of a total failure: VRChat at least is colorful, immediate, fun in it's craziness, and feels pretty alive, but still limited.
Posted by: Pulsar | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 06:49 PM
If Second Life wants to compete with its peers it should change the databse. I mean seriously, 20k Lindens is a nice penny and not a penny someone is willing to pay for when nearly everything you " need " for a good avatar is above 5k or hits at that mark.
Despite Imvu being a rigid game in its moving or world building, packages give users better pptions when it comed to buying stuff like credits , memberships , etc. If Second Life had packages for lindens vs its rather low limiting economy system then itd be a contender. If anything it could be the best in its kind.
A new logo cant fix its issues that drive old AND new customers away.
Posted by: Dakota | Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 10:28 PM
I like the name Secondlife just leave it be lol
Posted by: Vanna Constantine | Friday, May 29, 2020 at 11:45 AM
The name is cringe, and always has been. It right away makes people think the game is for people who don't have a "first life."
That SL has such an off putting name, combined with all its other limitations, and yet still survives with a pretty hardcore user base is a testament to what the game does have going for it - some strong communities, some wacky out there adult entertainment, some beautiful virtual world design, and I could go on.
There *could be* a second life for Second Life. Let's see if Linden Labs can figure out how to make it happen.
Posted by: eric | Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 02:18 AM
How about simply completing the move of the platform to the cloud, White Labeling it to allow 3rd-parties to create their own branded instances, while still using shared Metaverse connectivity (if allowed)and resources and call it good!?
Posted by: John Westra | Monday, June 01, 2020 at 11:25 AM
Something needs to be done about people defaulting to whatever minecraft is supposed to be versus making something real in Second Life.
Posted by: Israel Schnute | Sunday, June 07, 2020 at 08:11 AM
I see nothing wrong with the name SECOND LIFE. And you are right it IS a second and sometimes first life for some with disabilities, handicaps etc. Why is that such a bad thing ? Its a way for people to actually DO the things they cant in real life. I for one say dont change it, there's plenty of other things you could be working on to fix than a name change.
Posted by: Angel Falconer | Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 09:16 AM